Too Good to be True
by Don Sample
Summary: COMPLETE! P3G-823 seemed to be a perfect world: nice climate, no Goa'uld, no current occupants. So what had happened to SG-12? (Prequel to my Buffy-Stargate SG-1 crossover: Misunderstandings.)
1. Chapter 1

_Note:_ This story is a prequel to my Buffy/Stargate crossover: _Misunderstandings_

* * *

**Too Good to be True**

**Chapter 1:**

Colonel Jack O'Neill squinted against the harsh sunlight. He pulled his sunglasses out of a breast pocket of his BDU, flipped them open and slipped them over his eyes. He heard the wormhole collapse in the stargate behind him as he looked around. SG-1 had just emerged from a gate at the head of a mountain valley. It might have been a valley somewhere in Washington State, or maybe southern British Columbia, but the blue of the sky wasn't quite right, and the colour of the vegetation was a little off. He bounced up and down on the balls of his feet, enjoying the feel of a gravity field only about 4/5ths as strong as Earth's. He was sure that his knees would appreciate it.

P3G-823 looked like any one of dozens of other worlds that SG-1 had been to. Mountains, trees, temperate climate. Nearly all the indicators said that this was an ideal world. The sort of place where Jack would like to have a cabin, beside a nice stream with lots of fish in it. He had long ago decided any place that seemed as nice as this, was just too good to be true.

The first MALP had been sent here over a year ago, and it hadn't discovered anything out of the ordinary. No signs of any civilization, or current habitation of any sort.

That was the main thing that this world seemed to have going for it: it was empty. No natives to worry about offending, no Goa'uld, nothing, and that was unusual. Gates weren't usually left on worlds that had no reason for people to visit them.

A couple of months had passed before any more exploration was done. A UAV had been sent through the gate, to scout farther than the very short range that the MALP could reach. It had found the remains of a road, leading away from the gate. Sections of it had been buried by landslides, and much of it was overgrown by trees. Their roots, and a thousand years of weathering had nearly obliterated the parts that weren't buried.

The UAV had followed the road to some ruins, a few kilometres downhill from the gate—the tumbled down remains of what had once been a large stone structure—so this world had obviously been inhabited at some time in the distant past, but there was no sign of what may have become of those inhabitants.

Still, there really hadn't been any reason to send anyone to this world to explore it more thoroughly. There were lots of more interesting worlds on which the SGC could spend its limited resources. More months had gone by during which no one had come here.

But eventually they had sent someone. SG-12 had come through the gate two weeks ago, to do a scientific survey of the planet. For twelve days they had sent back regular, boring, reports. Daniel had been excited by the pictures of inscriptions from the ruins that the archaeologists had sent back, but he was the only one. The geologists hadn't found any minerals worth mining; the botanists, and zoologists hadn't found any useful looking plants or animals.

Daniel had been grousing for a week about not being allowed to go see the ruins for himself, but he'd been tied up trying to gather as much information as he could about this new Goa'uld, Anubis. General Hammond had thought that that was more important than a thousand year old ruin. The ruin wasn't going anywhere.

Then, twenty-four hours ago, SG-12 had missed their scheduled check-in. The SGC had dialled out, and tried to raise them, but they had received no response to their radio call. Another UAV had been sent. It had overflown their campsite, near the ruin, and it had shown no one: just the tents, and some equipment, no sign of SG-12, and no sign of any sort of attack. Under infrared, the UAV could see the warmth from some equipment that had been left running, but there was no sign of any body heat that might come from someone sheltering in one of the tents, or hiding in the trees.

So now, here they were. SG-1 was standing in front of a stargate on a world that had seemed too good to be true, and now it looked like Jack's suspicions were confirmed. He took one more look around the peaceful valley, before he waved his hand in the direction of ruin. "Let's get moving campers. We don't have all day."


	2. Chapter 2

SG-1 spread out as they moved down the valley. Jack took the lead, several metres in front of Carter and Daniel, and Teal'c had their six. They all kept watch for anything that might be a threat. SG-12 had reported the presence of one large predator. It seemed to be a cross between a grizzly bear, and a mountain lion, so they had named a bearcat: a name that Jack thought lacked any sort of imagination. It had found them on their second night. Fortunately it had tripped one of their perimeter alarms while it was trying to stalk closer to the camp. They had shot it with a zat, and put a radio collar on it so they could keep track of its movements. The zoologist on the team figured it had to be a very territorial animal. A predator that size would need an enormous range: there was probably only one in this entire valley. It apparently had learned quickly from its first experience with a zat. After it had recovered it had taken off, and kept its distance from the humans ever since. Dr. Weirick, their zoologist, had tracked its movements all over the valley, and it hadn't come within half a kilometre of their camp since.

Whatever had happened to the survey team, Jack didn't think it was a predator, or even a pack of predators. Everyone who went off-world had weapons training, and half of SG-12 had been trained soldiers, as well as scientists. There was no way that any mere animal was going to kill all of them, so quickly that they wouldn't be able to get any message out. Even if they couldn't reach the gate, the MALP would have recorded any distress call they may have made, and relayed it to the SGC when they had opened the gate after SG-12 had failed to report in. The MALP hadn't recorded anything other than routine radio traffic. There had been some sort of burst of static, about thirty hours ago now, and everything had stopped. Some remote sensing equipment that had been scattered around the valley was still transmitting data, but there had been no sign of life since that burst, though it had repeated about eight hours ago.

No sign of human life, anyway. There was lots of other life. The local equivalent of birds—more like small flying reptiles with iridescent scales, almost like miniature dragons—were active in the trees, and Jack sometimes caught sight of small animals in the underbrush, but the biggest thing he saw looked something like a beaver, and quickly scurried away out of sight when it saw the humans approaching.

Jack saw that Carter was consulting an instrument that reminded him of a tricorder out of the original Star Trek series. "So, you reading anything there, Carter?"

Carter shook her head. "No Sir, not really. The bearcat's collar is still transmitting. It's about fifteen klicks that way." She pointed south. "I'm not picking up any sort of EM emissions that aren't coming from the survey team's instruments."

"Well, keep looking. Something happened to these guys."

"Yes, Sir."

They were still half a kilometre short of the camp when Jack signalled for them to leave what remained of the road that they were following. It was so broken up that it didn't really make travelling much easier, and he didn't want to approach the camp from a predictable direction. They moved up a hill, following the more difficult terrain, to circle around the camp and approach it from the rear. Taking the easy way in was a good way to walk into an ambush.

They followed a ridge line, keeping below the top of it so they wouldn't be silhouetted against the sky to anyone who might be observing it, until they reached the place where their maps indicated the ridge should be overlooking the camp. Jack signalled for Carter and Daniel to stay where they were, and for Teal'c to come with him. They climbed up to the top of the ridge, using trees for cover. They crawled the last ten metres, and lay prone on the ground, looking down on the camp. Jack raised his binoculars to his eyes.

The camp seemed empty. He could see no one. One of the beaver like animals was prowling through it, sniffing at something by a table that was shaded by a tarp that was flapping slightly in the breeze. A couple of the 'birds' were pecking at what looked like some food that may have been left out on the table. Jack couldn't see any sign of the survey team itself. "You see anything, Teal'c?" he asked softly.

"I do not, O'Neill."

"Me, neither." Jack looked back down the hill, and waved for Carter and Daniel to come join them. He went back to scanning the camp site, and its surroundings, looking for any sign of human life. He couldn't see any.

Carter crawled up beside Jack, while Daniel came up beside Teal'c.

"Okay, Carter and Daniel, stay here, and watch our backs. Teal'c and I will go in for a closer look." Jack pointed to the left, where the trees grew down the slope, nearly to the camp's perimeter. "We'll use the trees for cover, to get us in close."

"Yes, Sir," said Major Carter.

"Be careful Jack," said Daniel.

Jack looked at him, and grinned. "I'm always careful." Teal'c raised an eyebrow, Carter rolled her eyes, and Daniel just stared at him. "I am…it just doesn't look like it, sometimes."

* * *

Jack and Teal'c approached the campsite through the trees, both because the trees gave them cover to let them get close to the site without being seen, and because, if he were planning to ambush anyone entering the camp, this was where Jack would have hidden some of his forces. They moved quietly, hardly making any sound, and on the lookout for anyone else who might be trying to hide from them. They came at last to the edge of the clearing, about fifteen metres from the nearest tent.

There was a pole, supported by a tripod, a few metres away from them. Jack could see the little green light flashing on it, that told him that it was active. A fence of them surrounded the camp, spaced about five metres apart. They made up the perimeter alarm system, meant to warn the people in the camp of the approach of any large animals.

Jack surveyed the camp again, and still saw nothing. "I think it's time to stop sneaking around in the bushes." Jack keyed the microphone of his radio. "We're going in, Carter."

"Acknowledged," came over his radio.

Jack stood up, and moved toward the pole. The alarm system was designed to warn against animals, not people, so the pole had a button on top that, when depressed, let someone cross the laser beams between it and the next pole, without setting off the alarm. Jack held down the button, and motioned for Teal'c to go first. Teal'c nodded, and stepped across the perimeter. Jack followed before he released the button.

The camp was deserted. Jack and Teal'c checked inside the tents, and found no one. Everything was neat and tidy. Whatever had happened here, it didn't look like the team was attacked in the night. All the beds were made up; everything was ship-shape.

It was a little different outside. The table under the tarp had the remains of a meal of MREs on it. A small flock of 'birds' was startled away from it when Jack and Teal'c approached. Jack counted four place settings, and the remains of three MRE packs on the table. The fourth was under the table, where the beaver thing had been sniffing at it.

"There's nothing here," said Jack. He activated his radio. "Carter, Daniel, come on down. I don't think anything's going to be jumping out at us."

Carter and Daniel came straight down from the ridge, not bothering to try to sneak closer first. They joined Jack and Teal'c in the camp.

Daniel looked at the remains of the meal on the table. "Reminds me of the _Mary Celeste_."

"Who is Mary Celeste?" asked Teal'c.

"Not a who," said Daniel, "a what. The _Mary Celeste_ was a sailing ship found abandoned at sea. There was no one on board her, but according to the story, there was a meal left half eaten on the table. She was just abandoned for no apparent reason, and her crew was never found."

"We're going to find these people," said Jack. "Daniel, take a look at their notes, see if anyone left any messages for us there. Carter, do the same with their computers. Come on Teal'c, let's see if we can find any tracks, or anything like that."

Jack and Teal'c circled the camp, looking for any sign. They quickly found that they had two problems with doing that. First of all the ground was too rocky for any footprints to be made in most of it. Second, where they could find any signs, either in trampled plants, or footprints in bits of soil between the rocks, they soon found that people had been going in and out a lot, in nearly all directions. They couldn't find any clear indications of which were the most recent. They didn't find any footprints that didn't look like they were made by standard issue boots.

They returned to the camp, and found that Carter and Daniel had come up empty too. There was nothing recorded in any of the survey team's journals, or on their computers that gave any indication of anything out of the ordinary happening prior to their disappearance.

Teal'c was looking at the table again. "O'Neill."

"What is it, T?"

"There are only four meals here. Two of the team members were not eating with the others."

"You think that two of them got in trouble elsewhere, and the rest of them went to help?"

"That is a possibility," said Teal'c.

"They may have all run off so fast that they couldn't leave any sort of message behind," said Daniel.

"But where would they go?" asked Carter.

"We haven't checked the ruins yet," said Daniel.

"You've just been itching for an excuse to see them for yourself, haven't you," said Jack.

"Well, yes," said Daniel, "but it is the next logical place to look."


	3. Chapter 3

They approached the ruins cautiously. It was Jack's nose that gave them the first hint. A slight shift of the breeze brought a scent that he wished that he would never encounter again, but the realist in him told him that it was unavoidable in his line of work. It was the smell of death.

The way Teal'c's grip shifted slightly on his staff told Jack that he had smelled it too. They moved forward slowly.

Most of the ruin was just that: a ruin. Most of the structure that had stood there had collapsed long ago. Nothing remained but rubble. Jack moved toward the only part of the structure that was still standing: a circular wall about four metres high, and twenty in diameter, covered by a dome. There was an arched doorway that led into the dark interior. The odour got stronger as he approached it.

"Carter, Daniel, wait here," said Jack, when they reached the door. He held his P90 ready, and waved for Teal'c to follow him as he stepped through the entrance. He stepped to one side as soon as he was inside, to make room for Teal'c to follow him, and so he wouldn't be silhouetted in the doorway.

The odour inside was stronger still. Jack was very glad that it had been several hours since breakfast, and he now intended to put off eating lunch…maybe skip it altogether. He removed his sunglasses, and waited for his eyes to adjust to the dim interior, after the bright sunshine outside. He listened for any sign of motion, but could only hear the slight rustling of Teal'c moving beside him.

The room seemed less dim to him now. It was illuminated by narrow beams of sunlight shining in through slit windows, high on the walls. Jack could make out the lumps on the floor that were scattered around a central column: the bodies of the four men, and two women of SG-12.

Jack continued to sweep his eyes around the chamber. The walls were covered in carvings: he recognized the runes used by the Asgard. There were more carvings on the floor: patterns that had had a thousand years of accumulated detritus swept away from them by SG-12's archaeologist.

He turned his attention back to the bodies. He could see no external sign of what had killed them. There were no marks visible on their uniforms: no holes, no burns, no signs of blood.

He moved closer and knelt by one of the bodies. It was laying face down on the floor. He rolled it over. The body was still stiff from rigour mortis, and he could see the lividity bruising on its face. He recognized Major Simpson, the commander of SG-12, but he tried not to think about that. This was a body, a thing, not the guy that Jack had won twenty bucks off in a friendly wager over who would win the Stanley Cup last year. He tried to keep the thoughts about what he would tell Simpson's wife out of his mind while he took a closer look at his remains.

Even up close there were no obvious injuries. It looked like Simpson had just died. Jack considered the possibilities: poison; disease; alien weapons, such as a zat. From the look of things it would probably take an autopsy to determine what had killed these people.

Jack quickly checked the other bodies. They all looked about the same: like they had just dropped dead; crumpled where they were standing. "Do you have any ideas about what happened here?" he asked Teal'c.

Teal'c had been examining the bodies as well. He shook his head. "I do not, O'Neill. Whatever killed these people acted quickly, though."

Jack agreed. From the way the bodies were spaced, it looked like they had all died at pretty much the same time. None of them had had a chance to react to whatever killed them. Two of them had been carrying their P90s, but both still had the safeties on. He stood up, and checked his watch. Nearly three hours had passed since they had first come through the gate. It was almost time to check in with the SGC.

* * *

The SGC dialled in on schedule, and Jack reported what they had found to General Hammond by radio. Without having any idea what had killed SG-12, the General didn't want to risk bringing their bodies back to Earth right away. They didn't want to import any sort of deadly virus. It wasn't likely that a virus had killed them: no disease would strike them all so quickly, at the same time, but there was no point in taking any risks that they didn't have to. He informed Jack that Dr. Fraiser, and SG-4 would be sent through as soon as possible, with the equipment she'd need to perform the preliminary autopsies, in the field.

SG-1 moved SG-12's bodies back to their camp. All six were placed into the tent that had been set up as SG-12's main field lab. It was grim work, but they completed it quickly. Daniel wanted to get back to the ruin as soon as they were done, to examine the room that they had been found in more closely. Jack ordered Carter and Teal'c to stay at the camp, to wait for SG-4.

* * *

Jack watched Daniel as he slowly circled around the room. He was carrying his mini digital video camera, recording everything that was written on the walls. He didn't know why Daniel bothered: they already had a full set of images that had been taken by SG-12. He supposed it was just habit.

When he was finished photographing the walls, Daniel turned to the pillar in the centre of the room. "So, did you notice anything strange about this?" he asked Jack.

Jack looked at the pillar again. It was a little over a metre tall, and maybe half a metre in diameter. It flared out slightly at the top. It had similar writing to that on the walls etched into its surface. The stone, or whatever material it was made from, seemed to be a lighter colour than that used for the walls and the dome, but other than that, there was nothing unusual about it. "It's a pillar."

Daniel slowly circled it, photographing it from all angles too. "It wasn't any any of the imagery that SG-12 sent back to the SGC."

"You mean, they didn't take any pictures of it?" asked Jack.

"No, I mean it wasn't here, in any of the pictures they took," said Daniel. "There were several that showed the middle of this chamber, and this pillar wasn't here." He knelt down to take a closer look at something on the side of it. He reached out toward it with his hand.

"Don't touch it!" ordered Jack.

Daniel lowered his hand, and looked around. "Hmm? What's the matter Jack?"

"Nothing. Just we have a pillar that wasn't here before, and there were six bodies around it. I suspect that there might be some connection, so keep your hands _off_ it!"

"Oh, right." Daniel took a closer look at the floor at the base of the pillar. There was a bit of a depression there. He looked back up at the flared top. "It looks like the pillar was recessed into the floor. SG-12 must have done something to bring it up." He took a note pad out of a pocket, and started to copy down some observations.

* * *

Daniel had become engrossed in some carvings near the door. Jack knew the look on his face. It would take a squad of Jaffa attacking to pull his attention away from them.

"Daniel." He got no response. "Daniel!"

"Hmm, what is it Jack?" asked Daniel, but he didn't take his eyes off the wall.

"So, can you read it?"

"Ah…no, not yet. The alphabet used here is clearly derived from the Asgard, but the words don't match any language that I know. It could take some time to translate it." He reached out and traced his fingers over a pattern of runes. "This could be a variation of 'Thor' or it could be some other word that's just close to 'Thor' in spelling…"

"That's great," said Jack. "Anything there about what killed SG-12?"

"Not that I've found yet," said Daniel.

"Well, keep looking…and don't _touch_ anything."


	4. Chapter 4

Jack had Teal'c spell him as Daniel's keeper when word came that SG-4 had arrived. He got back to the camp just as Doctor Fraiser was beginning her examination of the first body. "Find anything?" he asked.

"You'll have to give me a _little_ time, Colonel," said Dr. Fraiser. "Now, get out of here, and let me get to work, or on your next physical, I'll use some of my extra large needles."

Jack raised his hands, and started to back toward the entrance to the tent. "Alright, alright. I'm leaving." He quickly ducked out through the tent flap. He saw Major Carter grinning at him when he got outside. "What?"

"It's just that you're more scared of Janet than I've ever seen you scared of a Goa'uld."

"Have you seen some of her needles, Carter? They're huge!"

"With all due respect, Sir, you're such a baby."

"Carter…why don't you take your toys, and go join Daniel? See if you can detect any of those things you detect coming from that column?"

Sam grinned at him. "Yes sir." She waved a hand at him in a way that kinda suggested a salute, before she gathered up some instruments, and left toward the ruin.

* * *

Dr. Fraiser had her preliminary autopsy report ready four hours later.

"So, what killed them, Doc?" asked Jack.

"I don't know," said Dr. Frasier.

"You have no idea?"

"I have examined all six bodies," said Dr. Frasier, "and I can find no obvious cause of death for any of them. There is no sign of trauma, there is no internal bleeding. The toxicological tests that I have been able to perform with the equipment I have here show nothing but normal decay byproducts."

"So, they just died for no reason?" asked Jack.

"There was a reason," said Dr. Fraiser. "I just can't tell you what it was, yet. I'm going to send some tissue samples back to the SGC. They'll be able to run more tests, maybe find something I missed."

"Can you at least give us a time of death?"

"Thirty-six to forty-eight hours ago."

"We knew that from their missed check-in."

"Sorry, Colonel, but I can't be more precise than that, not after this much time. If I had been able to examine the bodies earlier, before they had started to decompose, I might have been able to tell you more, but now it's starting to be difficult to distinguish between tissue damage caused by the decomposition, and damage that might have been the cause of death."

"How about disease?" asked Jack.

"It doesn't seem very likely. I haven't been able to identify any bacterial, or viral pathogens, but again, we're going to have to wait for the analysis of the samples I'm sending back to the SGC to be sure."

"So you've really got nothing."

"I've got nothing, Colonel."

* * *

Jack wandered back toward the dome. He sent Teal'c back to the camp, while he watched over Daniel. Carter was doing something with her toys outside the dome. Watching Daniel was really pretty entertaining, not that Jack would admit it out loud. He flitted to and fro across the chamber, from one set of inscriptions to another, speaking incomprehensible notes into a recorder while he was at it.

Daniel was back by the pillar, taking another look at the markings on it, when it happened. Jack heard a buzzing noise, and there was a flash of light. He raised his hand to shade his eyes against the brilliant glow emanating from the pillar. It expanded like a bubble, until it was about five metres in diameter. Daniel collapsed as it engulfed him.

"Daniel!" cried Jack. He saw the archaeologist lying on the ground, a few meters away from him. There was a blue glowing barrier between them. Daniel was lying on the ground, not moving, less than a metre inside the barrier.

Jack knew better than to try to cross that barrier. He poked at it with his fingers, and felt nothing. "Daniel!" he yelled again, but there was no response. Danny wasn't moving at all. He wasn't even breathing.

Nothing had happened when he touched the barrier, so Jack knelt down, and tried to reach for Daniel. His fingers wouldn't work. His entire arm had gone numb as it entered the field. His hand flopped uselessly against Daniel's shoulder. He couldn't grab hold of him. Jack pulled his arm back, and felt pins and needles in it. He looked around for something he could use, and he saw a camera on a tripod. He grabbed the tripod, and used it to reach into the field. He tried to hook Daniel's arm with its head, to pull it out of the field so he could drag him free.

Daniel's arm moved, but the tripod head slipped free before Jack could get his hand outside of the energy field. He tried again, but couldn't get Danny's hand any closer. It was only a few frustrating centimetres beyond the barrier. Jack tried to grab him with his own hand again, but his fingers just wouldn't work after they passed through the barrier.

And then it was gone. As suddenly as it had appeared, the barrier vanished. Jack grabbed the collar of Daniel's BDU, and dragged him away from the column, beyond where the barrier had been. He dropped down beside him and felt at his neck for a pulse. There was nothing. He keyed the microphone of his radio. "Medical emergency, at the dome!" he said. "Daniel's unconscious! I can't find a pulse."

Jack ignored the response that came immediately to his call. He tilted Daniel's head back, and blew a breath of air into his lungs. He placed his hands on Daniel's chest. "Don't! You! Die! On! Me!" he said as he compressed his chest. He went back and blew another breath of air into Daniel's mouth.

Jack kept doing CPR on Daniel, while he waited for the others to arrive, moving back and forth—blow a breath of air into his lungs, compress his chest five times, blow a breath of air into his lungs—over and over. "You! Can't! Die! On! Me!"

Carter was the first to arrive. She immediately took over the mouth-to-mouth respiration part of the CPR. "Janet's on her way, sir," she told Jack between breaths.

Dr. Fraiser entered the dome, followed by Teal'c and one of the medics from SG-4 carrying medical equipment cases. She dropped down opposite Jack and started her examination of Daniel. "What happened?" she asked.

"Blue light; some sort of energy field came out of the pillar, and he just collapsed," said Jack. "I tried to pull him out, but my arm just went numb when I reached into it. Then the field went away."

Dr. Fraiser prepared her defibrillator. "You touched the field too?"

"Yeah," said Jack.

"And your arm's okay?"

"Tingled a bit, when I pulled it out, but it feels fine now."

Dr. Frasier ripped Daniel's shirt open, and placed the defibrillator paddles against his skin. She looked at the display. "Flat line. Clear!"

Jack and Sam pulled away, and she pressed the buttons on the paddles. Daniel's back arched as the electricity flowed through his chest. Dr. Frasier looked at the display. "Nothing. We're going to intubate him!"

The medic had the tracheal tube ready. Sam moved aside to give him room to insert it into Daniel's throat, and hook it up to an oxygen bottle. Sam took over running it, while Jack resumed compressing Daniel's chest.

Dr. Frasier had the defibrillator recharged. "Clear!" she said. Jack and Sam pulled back, and she administered another shock to Daniel's heart. "Still nothing. Epinephrine!" she told the medic.

The medic handed her the biggest needle that Jack had ever seen. She stabbed it into Daniel's chest, and pressed the plunger home.

Jack and Sam resumed the CPR while Dr. Frasier waited for the defibrillator to recharge again. "Clear!" she called.

They pulled back, and Dr. Frasier pressed the buttons on the paddles. Daniel arched his back again. He fell back to the ground. Dr. Frasier checked the display on the defibrillator. "I've got a heartbeat!" She took a penlight from her pocket, and shone it in Daniel's eyes. "Pupils are responsive!"

Daniel started to cough around the tube down his throat. Dr. Frasier quickly removed it. He gasped in deep breaths of air.

"God damn it, Daniel!" said Jack. "You've gotta stop doing things like that!"

Daniel struggled to sit up. He pushed aside the oxygen mask that Dr. Frasier was trying to place over his face. "Like what?" he gasped.


	5. Chapter 5

"He seems to be okay, except for some bruised ribs," said Dr. Fraiser. "I still want him to rest, though."

"I'm fine, Jack. Really," said Daniel. He tried to sit up on the cot.

Janet pushed him back down. "I said that you're to stay put! Your heart was stopped for nearly five minutes!"

"I need to get back there!"

"No! You are staying in this bed," said Jack. "Now tell us what happened."

"I don't know!" said Daniel. "One second, I'm looking at inscriptions on the wall; the next, I'm lying on the ground with a tube down my throat!"

"But you were over by the column when the field activated," said Jack.

"Short term memory loss," said Dr. Fraiser. "The field seems to shut down all neural activity. The last few seconds before it activated are probably gone."

"So you don't remember what you did?" asked Jack.

"You were there," said Daniel. "Did you see me do anything?"

"No, you were just looking at it," said Jack. "I didn't see you touch anything."

Carter had just entered the tent. "I don't think it was Daniel."

"You've found something?" asked Jack.

"We picked up another burst of static that corresponds with when the field was active," said Carter. "Just like the ones that were recorded earlier. The first was approximately 44 hours ago. The next was about 22 hours ago, and then the last one was about two hours ago."

"So this thing is activating every twenty hours?" asked Jack.

"Something like that," said Carter. "The second activation was 22.3 hours after the first. The next was 19.5 hours later. The interval seems to be decreasing. If the pattern keeps up, the next one should be in about 15 hours."

"That gives you lots of time to set up some more of your toys," said Jack. "See if we can get a reading on what this is."

"Yes, Sir," said Carter, "but this thing isn't just happening faster. Each static burst that we've measured has been stronger too."

"How much stronger?" asked Daniel.

"Each one has been about fourteen percent stronger than the one before it," said Carter.

Jack tried to do a little math in his head; he wasn't sure if he got the right answer. "And the decrease in the time between activations?" he asked.

"Also fourteen percent, Sir," said Carter.

"That matches the marks on the floor," said Daniel.

"What marks on the floor?" asked Jack.

"There's a series of concentric circles, centred on the column," said Daniel. "Each one has a radius fourteen percent larger than the previous one."

"So, if this keeps up?"

"If I'm right, then the field will fill the dome on its eighth activation, a little more than two and a half days from now," said Carter.

"And if it doesn't stop then?" asked Jack.

"It will be here in five and a half days," said Carter. "It will reach the gate about three hours and fifteen minutes later."

"Five days to go 200 metres, and then three hours to go five kilometres?" asked Jack.

"The growth is exponential," said Carter. "It starts slowly, but it keeps accelerating. When it reaches the gate the field will be expanding at over 30 kilometres and hour, and it just keeps going faster. Nine minutes after it passes the gate, it will have engulfed the entire planet, if nothing stops it."

"So, I suggest that you find a way to stop it."

* * *

Nearly everyone was back in the dome fifteen hours later. Even Daniel was present. Dr. Fraiser had wanted to send him back to the SGC but he had refused to go. He'd had a good night's sleep, and said that he was feeling fine.

"Five minutes!" said Carter.

"Alright! Everyone out!" ordered Jack. "Now!"

Everyone headed for the exit. They thought that they knew how big the field would be, but they weren't taking any chances. They left their cameras and other instruments inside to take readings, but the people cleared out.

A few minutes later they were back at the camp, watching the interior of the dome on a bank of TV screens. Carter started a countdown: "10…9…8…7…6…5…4…3…2…1…Now!"

They could see the field form on their TV screens. Its border was right where they had placed their yellow tape border on the ground. It stayed active for a few seconds, and then vanished as abruptly as it had appeared.

"Looks like you've got the pattern right, Carter," said Jack.

"Yes Sir," said Carter, not sounding at all happy about it. "What about the rest?"

"Let's see," said Jack.

They re-entered the dome. Cages holding rats had been placed inside the radius of the field, and the rats were now dead. Even the rats that had been enclosed in Faraday cages, and other forms of shielding against electromagnetic radiation were dead.

Carter had been examining the readouts from a variety of instruments that had been scattered around the room. "What are your toys telling you, Carter?" asked Jack.

"Everything that was inside the field stopped working, Sir. It will take me a few minutes to find out if they sustained any permanent damage."

"And the stuff outside the field?"

"The field seems to disrupt some forms of electrical activity," said Carter. "It will take me a while to analyse the data further."

"So, how does that kill someone?"

"Nerve impulses are electrical, Colonel," said Dr. Fraiser. "Shut them down, and your body just stops working. For things like your arm, once you removed it from the field the nerves started to work again, and it quickly returned to normal. For something like your heart, once it stops beating, it won't spontaneously start again."

Teal'c had been wandering around the interior of the dome, quietly observing the activity. He stopped moving, looking at something on the ground. "Colonel O'Neill!" he called.

Jack moved toward him. "What is it Teal'c?"

Teal'c tapped on the ground with the base of his staff. "Observe."

Jack saw what looked like some sort of beetle crawling along the floor. "It's a bug."

Teal'c tapped on the ground near the bug again. It turned and moved slowly away from his staff. "This bug does not appear to be able to move quickly," he said. "It is well within the area that was enveloped by the field. It must have been here when the field was active, and yet, it is still alive."

"You're right," said Jack. "Doc! Come take a look at this! Carter! How long till the field activates again?"

Carter checked her watch while Dr. Fraiser came over to Jack and Teal'c. "About fourteen hours and forty-five minutes, Sir."

"Teal'c, we've got that long to catch some of the local wildlife," said Jack.

* * *

Fifteen hours later Jack was looking at some cages that held a few of the local 'birds,' a beaver-thing, and some of the local insects, all looking very much alive and healthy beside cages with dead rats in them. "Okay, looks like this thing leaves the local wildlife alone."

"That means that it's probably meant to be some sort of protection against invasion from the Goa'uld, or something like that," said Daniel. "Like Thor's Hammer on Cimmeria."

"If that's the case, what happened to the people who created it?" asked Jack.

"Maybe they didn't want to experiment with something like this on their home world," said Carter, "In case they got it wrong."

"Makes sense," said Jack. "Work out the bugs someplace where they won't wipe themselves out, if they screw it up."

"So what happened to them?" asked Daniel, "Why leave it here?"

"Maybe they screwed it up," said Jack.


	6. Chapter 6

The area around the dome had sprouted more sorts of antennae, and other instruments than Jack would have believed existed. SG-1 and SG-4 had been joined by a dozen scientists of various sorts—all of whom were busy trying to figure out what was generating the field, and if there was any way to block its influence—and half a dozen Marines, sent to baby-sit the scientists. So far, no one was having any luck. The field had kept re-appearing at shorter and shorter intervals, each time covering a greater area. The last activation, nearly nine hours ago, had exactly filled the dome. The five minute warning alarm had sounded, four minutes ago. Everyone was clear. Now they were going to learn if the field was going to stop at the dome.

Carter counted down the last seconds, and the field appeared, right on schedule. This time it had expanded nearly one and a half metres outside of the dome: its edge right where a stake had been driven into the ground. There was a line of similar stakes, stretching back toward their camp site.

"Doesn't look like it's going to stop," said Jack. "Have we learned _anything_ about how it works?"

"I still haven't made much progress with the inscriptions," said Daniel. "I think that the central column is some sort of control console for the device, but I haven't been able make out how it works."

"How about you, Carter?"

"We're starting to pick something up from underground," said Major Carter. "There seems to be some sort of power generator down there, but we haven't found any indication of a way to get down to it. There are no signs of any tunnels, or access ports. Whatever it is, is generating massive amounts of energy though."

Jack walked back toward the camp, looking at each stake as he passed it. Each one was marked with the time that it was expected that the field would reach it, and how long it would take for the field to reach the Stargate, from that point. He stopped just short of the half way point, almost a hundred metres from the dome.

"Alright campers!" he called out. "We've got two days before the field gets to here. If we haven't figured it out by then, we're clearing out! From here it will take seven and a half hours for the field to reach the Stargate, and I want everyone long gone from this world before that happens! Any questions?"

* * *

They started to break camp at sunrise, two days later. They still had a few hours before the deadline that Jack had set, but no one had made any more progress, and no one expected to. They struck the tents, and loaded most of their heavier gear onto their FRED transport, to send back to the Stargate.

* * *

Jack watched as the field activated again, this time its edge right at the stake that he had applied a coat of red spray paint to. The interval between activations had dropped down to about an hour now, and the field was growing by more than ten metres each time.

"Alright! That's it!" he called. "Everyone but SG-1 gets out of here now!" He turned to the senior NCO of the contingent of Marines who had been sent to ride herd on the scientists. "Sergeant Callahan, take everyone back to the Stargate, and send them home. Radio me once everyone's through."

"Yes Sir!" said Callahan. "You people heard the colonel! Let's get moving!"

"Um, Jack, why are we sticking around?" asked Daniel.

Jack pulled a block of C4 out of his pack. "We tried it your way. Now we're going to try it my way."

"Are you sure that's a good idea?" asked Carter.

"No," said Jack. "That's why we're getting everyone else out of here before we try it."

"If we blow it up, we may never learn how it works," said Daniel.

"If it stays on, we won't ever learn how it works, either," said Jack, "and we may never be able to come back here."

"Indeed," said Teal'c. "It would appear that we have little to lose."

* * *

"Everyone's out, Sir," Sergeant Callahan reported over the radio. "All present in the SGC."

"Alright," said Jack. "We're going to wait until after the next activation before we set the charge. That'll give us about forty minutes before the next one. Call us back then, to see if it worked."

General Hammond's voice came over the radio. "Very well, Colonel. Good luck. SGC out!"

* * *

Jack placed the block of C4 against the base of the column inside the dome. He flipped the switch that armed its radio controlled detonator. He jogged out the door, and the couple of hundred yards back to where the rest of SG-1 was waiting, near where their camp had been. He joined them behind a couple of fallen logs that would give them a little protection, if the explosion was larger than anticipated.

Jack pulled the radio trigger from his pocket. He flipped open the safety cover for the arming switch, and pressed it. He flipped open the cover for the trigger switch. He looked around at his team. "Everybody ready?"

They hunched down lower behind the logs. "Ready, Sir," said Carter.

"Alright then!" Jack ducked too, as he pressed the switch.

There was a muffled _chuff_ from inside the dome, and a cloud of dust shot out the door.

Jack looked up. "Well, that was anti-clim—"

**_KABOOM!_**

SG-1 ducked back down behind the logs. Jack felt gravel sized pieces of stone pelting against him, and the logs shuddered as larger rocks hit them. After a few seconds, everything went quiet.

Jack looked around at his team. "Everyone in one piece?" he asked.

"Uh, yeah, I think so," said Daniel.

"I'm fine, Colonel," said Carter.

"I am uninjured," said Teal'c.

Daniel was looking back toward where the dome had been. "So…Are you sure you used enough dynamite there, Butch?" he asked.

"It wasn't the C4 that did that," said Carter. "It seems to have triggered some sort of secondary explosion."

"Ya think?" asked Jack.

"Well, it's a good thing I got pictures of everything," said Daniel. "I don't think we'll be putting that back together. So, do you think it worked?"

"I guess we'll have to wait around for another forty minutes or so to find out," said Jack. He looked around. He could still see the drifting cloud of dust from the explosion.

The field suddenly appeared: a blue hemisphere centred on where the dome had been.

"Uh, Carter, that seems to be early," said Jack. The field had already vanished again. "Did anyone notice how big it was?"

"The marker stakes have been knocked down, but I estimate that the field had a radius of 140 metres," said Teal'c.

"And the next one?" asked Jack.

Carter pointed to a stake about 20 metres away from them. "That stake's still standing."

"Okay…well, maybe that last one was just its last gasp, but I think maybe we should start to mosey back toward the gate," said Jack. "Just in case."

"That sounds like a good idea," said Daniel.

They all gathered up their packs, and started to move in the direction of the gate. "So, if that was just a glitch, and we're back to the old pattern, how long until the next one?" asked Jack.

Carter glanced at her watch. "About thirty-two minutes, Sir."

"Right, no real rush then." Jack kept looking back over his shoulder as they moved across the clearing to where the old road back to the gate entered it.

The field flashed on again.

"Carter?" asked Jack.

"_Run_, Sir!"

They ran.

They ran along the path with Teal'c in the lead, and Jack bringing up the rear. "How long have we got, Carter?" he called.

"I estimate twenty minutes, Sir!" yelled Carter. "I didn't really get an accurate timing on that last activation!"

Okay, five kilometres in twenty minutes. Not too bad. Over flat, even terrain Jack would consider a run like that to be a nice warm-up. Trouble was that this terrain was neither flat, nor even. They were running up hill over broken ground. Jack's knees were already starting to bother him.

He concentrated on the run. He didn't look back to see if he could catch a glimpse of the expanding field. Looking back wouldn't do him any good. He had to keep his eyes ahead, watching the ground, seeing where he would place his feet. A misstep, and a twisted ankle now could kill them all. He knew that he wouldn't leave any member of his team behind, and they wouldn't abandon him, even if he ordered them to. They were all going to make it, or none of them would. He knew that Teal'c could have left them all far behind, but he wouldn't.

The ache in his knees was getting worse, especially the left one. He ignored it. He concentrated on the run: putting one foot in front of the other, over and over. Ignore the pain. Ignore the burning in his lungs.

He spotted the gate about a hundred metres ahead of them. Teal'c finally put on a burst of his true speed, sprinting ahead to the DHD. He punched in Earth's address as the others came up the hill more slowly after him.

The gate was still spinning when Jack reached it. He could finally pause and catch a couple of deep breaths of air into his lungs. He looked back toward were the ruin was.

He could see the field. It was still a long way away. It was pulsing on and off about once a second now: each time visibly larger than the next, and the time interval was shrinking.

"We've only got a few seconds, now!" yelled Carter. "It's about to begin its explosive expansion!"

Jack heard the gate whoosh open behind him. He punched SG-1's IDC into his GDO. "Go!" he yelled.

Carter, Daniel and Teal'c vanished into the gate. Jack dove through it on Teal'c's heels.

"Close the iris!" he yelled as he rolled on the ramp in the SGC. He didn't know if the field could extend through the gate, or if the iris would do any good if it did, but he figured it couldn't hurt.

It didn't really matter. The wormhole had winked out before the iris was fully closed.

Jack lay on the ramp, his chest heaving as he tried to get more air into his lungs than was humanly possible. "I'm getting too old for this crap," he gasped.


	7. Epilogue

**Epilogue:**

"We sent a MALP through to P3R-233, programmed to use its manipulator arm to dial P3G-823," Carter reported to General Hammond, and the rest of SG-1, gathered in the conference room. "It's a good thing we did too, because it appears that the field can extend through a Stargate."

"Why does that address sound familiar?" asked Jack.

"It's a dead world, Sir," said Carter. "It was wiped out by Apophis, a few years ago. It's also where we found the Quantum Mirror."

"Oh yeah."

"So, the MALP dialled P3G-823, and then most of its systems shut down," said Carter. "We had outfitted it with a couple of instruments that we've found will work inside the field."

"What did you learn?" asked General Hammond.

"The field is still active, but it seems to have stabilized, activating thirty times a second. Between that, and the measured strength, we estimate that it has a radius of almost a thousand kilometres."

"So, I guess I'll have to find some other place for my off-world fishing cabin," said Jack.

"I'm afraid so, Sir," said Carter.

"Very well, people," said General Hammond. "I'm ordering P3G-823 locked out of the dialling computer. You've earned yourselves some down-time. Dismissed."

SG-1 walked away from the conference room together. "So, down-time," said Jack. "Anyone want to join me for a little fishing?"

"Sorry, Sir," said Carter. "I'd like to use the time to work on some ideas I've had for refining our naquadah generators."

"I'd like to take another look at the inscriptions from the dome," said Daniel.

"You guys need to learn the meaning of 'down-time,'" said Jack. "How about you, T?"

"I would rather spend the time in kel'no'reem," said Teal'c. "I have not had the opportunity to properly meditate for many days."

Jack shook his head. "Your loss."

* * *

Daniel checked his watch. He still had a couple of hours before the meeting that General Hammond had scheduled. He had spent the last week trying to decipher the inscriptions from P3G-823, without making much progress.

He had turned to doing a search of linguistics journals, looking for anything that might give him a clue. Many of the languages they had encountered off world had their roots on Earth, or had been brought to Earth by various aliens who had visited it in the past. The script used on P3G-823 was definitely related to the Asgard, as were the runes used by the Norse. He looked for articles relating to any unusual dialects using Norse runes. Fortunately the SGC had an extensive library of digitized articles, which made the searching easier.

He was able to dispose of most of the articles the search found with only a glance, but he did pause to read a few of them—not because they related to P3G-823, but because something else in them caught his attention.

He had just finished reading a fascinating article on Icelandic Skalds, and flipped quickly past a couple more that didn't catch his interest.

He froze. There on his screen was an image that might have been taken on P3G-823. The glyphs matched nearly perfectly. He could recognize some of the patterns of glyphs: the same words that he had found written on the walls of the dome.

He looked at the title of the article: _Translation of Prehistoric Norse Inscriptions From the Shetland Islands_ by Dr. Rupert Giles.

* * *

Continued in _Misunderstandings_. story ID: 1765534. 


End file.
